Understaffing of New York hospitals can lead to nursing malpractice

Increasingly, nurses are being sued by patients for acts of medical malpractice
such as the failure to assess and monitor the patient’s condition.

Health Magazine recently reported that Yale School of Medicine researchers
found that, when a Connecticut hospital adequately trained its nurses-and
hired one nurse to be in overall charge of patient safety practices-the
number of malpractice suits dropped by 50 percent. Improving nursing care
is crucial given that nurses are assuming more responsibilities for patient
safety. With greater responsibility comes greater scrutiny of a nurse's
acts and omissions. Nurses.com observes that, 30 years ago, nurses seldom
worried about being named a defendant in a
medical malpractice suit. Today, a growing number of nurses find themselves being sued as
a defendant in medical malpractice lawsuits.

According to American Nurse Today magazine, nurses are most often sued
for the following omissions:

Failure to follow the standards of care mandated by the hospital or health clinic.

Failure to use hospital equipment in a proper manner.

Failure to properly monitor and assess the patient's condition.

Failure to communicate the patient's condition to the treating physician.

Failure to document the patient's condition and medications.

An assertion that a nurse failed to act as a patient advocate is an increasingly
common negligence allegation. A nurse is under a duty to challenge a physician's
orders if he or she deems them likely to endanger the patient's safety.
For example, if a nurse believes that a physician's medication orders
or discharge orders are erroneous, he or she has an affirmative duty to
challenge the doctor.

Understaffed hospitals

In some instances, nursing malpractice does not result simply because the
nurse is inept. Nursing errors are often caused by hospital administrators
who, watching the financial bottom line and attempting to save money,
are busy downsizing the nursing staff. According to the New York State
Nurses Association, staffing is at crisis levels in many New York hospitals.
Emergency room nurses and nurses who assist doctors in surgery are routinely
assigned more patients than they can properly handle. The Nurses Association
also believes that, in too many New York hospitals, patients are left
waiting in the hallways for hours because there are not enough nurses
to sufficiently attend to them.

Studies have shown that the number of patients assigned to a nurse has
a direct impact on the nursing staff's ability to appropriately assess,
monitor and care for patients. For example, hospitals which routinely
staff with 1:8 nurse-to-patient ratios experience five additional deaths
per 1,000 patients than those staffing with 1:4 nurse-to-patient ratios.
Being overworked is, of course, no excuse for malpractice. The New York
State Nurses Association recognizes that if a nurse sees an unsafe practice
that might cause harm to a patient, the nurse is under an affirmative
duty to go up the chain of command in order to call attention to that
unsafe practice. Specifically, a New York nurse can fill out a Protest
of Assignment form notifying the hospital of the unsafe practice. A nurse
cannot remain silent.

Seeking compensation

Do not allow yourself to be the uncompensated victim of nursing medical
malpractice. If you suspect that you or a loved one has been the victim
of nursing malpractice, you are advised to contact an attorney as soon
as possible. An attorney experienced at handling New York medical malpractice
cases can discuss the matter with you and go over the medical records.
If a nurse's negligence has caused your injury, New York law affords
you the right to seek compensation from the nurse and the employer he
or she worked for.

The information on this website is for general information purposes only.
Nothing on this site should be taken as legal advice for any individual
case or situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt
or viewing does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship.

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